Actually it may not be race - white English girls, children of white English converts to Islam may well not have been so abused; it is the children of the infidel, the kuffar who are the miserable scum to be treated so low.

But while sentencing members of the gang at Newcastle Crown Court, Judge Penny Moreland said they picked out their victims “not because of their race, but because they were young, impressionable, naive and vulnerable. . . This is extremely serious offending against vulnerable members of society and that is the basis on which I intend to sentence."

Prosecutor John Elvidge QC said the victims who gave evidence in court were all "white British".

But the ethnicity of other potential targets was not known, he said, and one vulnerable girl who did not engage with police was black, and an Asian girl was seen at a party.

A judge said those involved in the grooming gang had caused “incalculable harm” as a four-day sentencing hearing got under way at Newcastle Crown Court.

Shocking details of the offending was revealed, including descriptions by the victims of a teenager - not one of the complainants - who seemed to be being treated as a “slave”.

Prosecutor John Elvidge QC said: “(A complainant) described her as looking upset, she was dirty, the bedclothes were dirty, her clothes were ripped. She was regarded by the men as a slave.

“The men said she would do anything in return for money and drugs and if she didn’t she would get battered. They were dropping things on the floor and making her pick them up.”

One teenager didn't eat for a week because she was so hooked on mephedrone, also known as M-Cat, but her abusers would only give her more after she performed sex acts on them.

Mohammed Azram, 35, picked up vulnerable girls from a courtyard in Newcastle's West End and gave them drugs he referred to as 'god' because of the power it had over victims. Rapist Jahangir Zaman, 45, gave girls lines of M-Cat and demanded oral sex if they wanted more,

One girl who gave evidence claimed she was repeatedly raped by men acting as if they were in a 'relay race' at one of the sex parties. The vulnerable 13-year-old, who was in local authority care, told the court how she would regularly be supplied with cash, cigarettes and drugs in exchange for sex. She spoke of how she would be picked up in a Mercedes from the children's home where she was living and taken to flats in Newcastle to be used by anyone who wanted her. She said it was like a relay race, one man after another, each having sexual intercourse with her to which she did not consent.'

On another occasion, the girl was taken to a party at a flat where there was a group of seven men in a room with a Kurdish flag on the wall and was given Mcat, the court heard. Mr Elvedge added: 'She attempted to resist the first man. She was given more Mcat then, one by one, they took their turn having sexual intercourse with her.'

Victim impact statements from the girls who fell victim to the gang were read to the court. One referred to “these monsters who abused me”.

Another victim said: “The way these men tricked us into believing they were our friends so they could sexually abuse us is disgusting.”

A third complainant added: “I had to hear them laughing as they went about telling others what they had done to me. They spread all kinds of rumours about me. . . Their attitude is they are superior to women and girls don’t have the same rights as them. They wear you down and stamp all over you. They laugh at you and relish thinking they can do what they want to you. They are clever at what they do.

“They made me feel like I was just a piece of meat and that makes me feel sick.”

Privately educated Mohammed Azram, who went to Durham School and Grainger Grammar School, (no poor uneducated left-behind and down-trodden immigrant he) pleaded guilty to five offences of supplying cocaine and mephedrone and was convicted of sexual assault and conspiracy to incite prostitution. He was jailed for twelve-and-a-half years, The 35-year-old, of Croydon Road, Newcastle, has 62 previous convictions, including nine for drugs and GBH on a woman. His barrister said he hoped to live with his sister, a bank worker, in Dubai when he is released, as the state is drug-free.

Jahanger Zaman, 45, of Hadrian Road, Newcastle, was jailed for 29 years for one count of rape, conspiracy to incite prostitution, supplying drugs and separate offences of conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine.

Shafiq Aziz, 48, of Fountains Drive, Middlesbrough, was jailed for 15 years for conspiracy to supply heroin and crack cocaine, offences which were separate to the sexual exploitation case but jointly with Zaman and another defendant.

left to right Mohammed Azram, Jahanger Zaman, Shafiq Aziz

Sentencing is expected to take four days. I'll keep an eye on the Live reports from the Crown Court.